As Jek Porkins, the fattest of all X-Wing pilots, he was a huge favorite among my usual group of Star Wars fans. Because Porkins, perhaps more than any other Star Wars character, captured the epic ridiculousness that makes Star Wars such a great film.

It's just silly, that movie. Ben saying "And these blast points, too accurate for sandpeople. Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise." Threepio tossing jawa corpses onto the fire. "I'll be careful." "You'll be DEAD!" That one Stormtrooper that cracks his skull on the rising door panel. Leia's bizarre accent. Young whiny Luke and his chores that keep him from wasting time with his friends picking up power converters at Toshi Station. The looped Tusken Raider footage. "Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?"

And after all of that, we're delivered a fat fighter pilot, hilariously named "Porkins," jowls pouring out from under his helmet. After the hunky, aquiline features of Biggs and Wedge and even Mr. Gold "Stay on Target" Leader, Porkins is obviously the team's comic relief. You can feel his backstory just from simple inference. He was always late to classes at the Academy, huffing and puffing to make it in before bell. During lunch, he'd have a plate piled high with food, the result of which would be BBQ sauce on his cheek for the rest of the day. He probably had a similarly ample girlfriend, but entertained a hopeless crush on the school's hot Corellian health teacher.

And yet he gave us time for a quick laugh during a tense scene when his friends tell him to eject from his failing ship into airless space. Let's remember William Hootkins' contributions to the Star Wars Universe with a final dramatic reading of his lines:

"Red Six standing by."

"I'm right with you, Red Three."

"I've got a problem here."

"I can hold it."

"No, I'm all right, I'm all right!" BOOM.

Fin.